Tag: staff pick

September Staff Pick: Wellness

August 28, 2023

Wellness by Nathan Hill, (Knopf, out 9/19), picked by store co-founder, Judy Blume

If you loved Nathan Hill’s first novel, The Nix, as much as I did and you’ve been waiting seven long years for his next, as I have, rejoice! You won’t be disappointed. This brilliant storyteller has done it again.

At its core Wellness is “a bittersweet, poignant, witty novel about marriage and the pursuit of health and happiness. Expansive, tender, a reflection of life in America in the 21^st Century. Yet it’s also a sendup of gentrification, toxic internet culture, modern parenting.” It even explores, briefly, polyamory and what a scene that is!

The story had me laughing while cringing when Jack and Elizabeth put their money down on a Forever home. It reminded me of my early marriage when friends asked one another, Is this your first house or your final house? If only we’d known then what was ahead of us.

We come to know Jack and Elizabeth intimately, from being young and madly in love to being married lovers, to twenty years down the road when they have an eight year old son. We are on this journey with them, getting to know the families they left behind to the family they become.

Wellness is compelling and quirky and yes, funny, because this is Nathan Hill writing, but it sometimes broke my heart. It goes deep but never tries too hard, never shouts look at me! There are a few tricky diversions along the way. Don’t let them stop you. If they do, skip them and come back later. But don’t skip anything having to do with Jack or Elizabeth. They are unforgettable characters.

There’s a lot to think about, a lot to remind us of who we were and how we became who we are. If I belonged to a book club I’d want us to read this book, to talk about this book.

Ultimately “this stunning novel of ideas never loses sight of its humanity.” I’m quoting Publishers Weekly here because there’s no way I can say it better. Except to tell you I’m going to read it again. Starting now.

~ Judy Blume

March Staff Pick: Black Cake

February 24, 2022

by Robin Wood

Picked by Robin, social media manager

I like to be surprised – and BLACK CAKE by Charmaine Wilkerson (Ballantine Books), our staff pick of the month for March, begins on a literal cliffhanger.

“He stood at the water’s edge, now, watching the waves crash white against the rocks, waiting for his daughter’s body to wash ashore.
… He remembered a clattering of plates, the splintering of glass on the tile floor, someone crying out. When he looked toward his daughter, she was gone and her satin-covered shoes lay strewn on the lawn outside like tiny capsized boats.”
– Black Cake

In a family shaped by secrets, siblings Byron and Benny sit down with the family lawyer to hear about their mother’s past, revealed only after her death. She asks them the share a Black Cake, a recipe that has been an important part of their family traditions and gains significance as the story unfolds. Before the cake is shared, we learn there should be one more at the table.

These are people who have never heard Dr. Phil’s adage: Would you rather be right or would you rather be happy? But they are compelling characters and the plot is propulsive. This book is the whole package: beautiful cover, good writing, strong plotting, relatable characters.

Twisty, fun and moving, you’ll enjoy this book where everyone has (a lot of) secrets.

****

“Survival is not enough. Survival has never been enough.”
Black Cake

I love this quote, which comes late in the book, because in a story about Black characters it makes sense out of context, but in the larger context it pulls together the themes of the book. Love and inheritance and all the bigger problems of the world that we can’t ignore or escape.

Here’s a bit more of the quote, from page 372 of the hardcover,

“Etta is swimming for her children now, and for their children, too, not for the records. She uses every chance she can to talk about the health of the oceans. Seafloor damage, runoff, plastics, rising water temperatures, overfishing. She calls for the designation of additional protected zones. But she also take the time to show the audience old photos of herself as a girl in a swim cap, plus her favorite snapshots of Patsy and the boys when they were little, poking around a tide pool in Wales, their shoes clumped with wet sand. She never forgets to show the joy, to show the love. Because, otherwise, what would be the point of anything?
Survival is not enough. Survival has never been enough.”
Black Cake

Wellness by Nathan Hill, (Knopf, out 9/19), picked by store co-founder, Judy Blume

Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee (Ballantine Books), picked by bookseller, Riona Jean

Picked by bookseller Riona Jean

Picked by Robin, social media manager